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CT Executive Search Specializes in senior recruitment in the emerging markets, leveraging its proprietary research capacities in Moscow at a network of partners in Asia, Africa and Eurasian Economic Union.
CT Executive interviewed africon GmbH CEO and Partner Mr. Zander last October to share insights about investors information and relations in Africa.

The interview started by covering African countries with most financial demand and highest potential. Mr Zander outlined the most important factors that drive Foreign Direct Investment FDIs, and emphasised on the African regions that promote those factors. The interview then covered how to best enter the African market. Mr Zander recommended a detailed study of the market in order to enter with best fit African Market Entry strategy.

For the full interview please use the link below to gain more insights about investors lack of information in Africa:
Interview

From 4th to 10th May 2017 africon GmbH was present with a stand at the worldwide leading trade fair on packaging solutions – the „interpack“ in Düsseldorf, Germany. There, africon had the chance to proof itself in three roles: presenting as itself, being one of the leading consulting companies with sole focus on the Sub-Saharan region, as the new official foreign representative of Messe Düsseldorf for the East African region and as one of the major partners of Messe Düsseldorf in the organisation of the “Food Processing and Packaging Exposyum” (FPPE). In all three roles interpack was a major success for africon. Being able personally meet quite a number of international companies that were very much interested in the African market in general and in participating in FPPE in particular. Read more

(Marc-Peter Zander,
CEO of africon
At the head of africon, a company that advises German companies that want to settle in Africa, Marc Zander presented himself to the trade fair participants of the Germany-Africa Business Forum, which was held in Frankfurt at the end of March. For Forbes Africa, he discusses the business opportunities offered by the continent as well as the caution of German investors. Excerpts.
BY PATRICKNELLE)

On the 23rd of March 2017, Marc Zander, CEO of africon, participated in the Germany Africa Business Forum (GABF) as the moderator of the panel discussion “Germany grows abroad – venturing to Africa for new markets”. In the presence of high ranked African politicians such as the former president of the Republic of Benin, Boni Yayi and the Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea Gabriel M. O. Lima, German and African business men and women came together in the prestigious Adlon Kempinski Hotel.

In absence of German politicians, one could assist to very openminded and trustful discussions. So, Mr. Lima expressed his wish that Germans should be “as aggressive as the other nations to show to the Africans that they are interested”. Also, Mr. J.H. Muhindo, Deputy Head of Mission of the embassy of Uganda, stressed the wish of his country that Germany would rather invest into Uganda’s industrialisation than continuing paying traditional development aid as there are many graduated young people in Uganda who were not able to gain suitable jobs. Altogether, the image of a strong and innovative Africa was drawn during the GABF, that stands in extreme contrast to generally published image of a poor continent in need. This was mainly due to the presence of modern and successful African business people such as Erick Yong, Onyeche Tifase or Rebecca Enonchong.

Between the panels, there were many occasions for exchange between the participants of the forum so that newcomers in the German African business scene could benefit from the experiences of established players.

Watch here a video-summary of the fair:

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In 2013, German trade fair Messe Dusseldorf and SAVE FOOD initiative hired africon, to perform research on the Kenyan food market. The study revealed a dramatic statistic: 300,000 tons of the mango harvest is lost because the fruits are not picked in time or cannot be processed quickly enough.

After an analysis of the reasons of losses and a deep insight into the Kenyan mango sector and its few processing techniques (mango pulp, mango juice, dried mangoes), africon together with Messe Dusseldorf and committed members of the SAVE FOOD initiative formed an active group and chose the Kenyan company Azuri Health Ltd. as their local partner in actually tackling the problem and invest in the niche market of dried mangoes.

This year on 8th February Azuri Health could, as a result of the successful business implementation, open a bigger production plant. Here, the production staff doubled from 5 to 10 persons and additional 25 casual workers during the peak production periods. Also, in terms of production capacity, the new plant evaluated to from 2 to 10 tons of dried mango per month.

Sonja Mattfeld, Partner at africon and Project Manager of “The Mango Project” was invited to hold a speech and cut the ribbon at the inauguration of the new plant. Just as was Dr. Clemens Schütte, Director of International Business at Messe Düsseldorf, a long standing partner of africon and “The Mango Project”.

Tei Mukunya, Founder and CEO of Azuri, states: “The Mango project is indeed the much awaited solution. They came to Kenya asked the right questions and realized what was needed.”

After a successful trip to Kenya in 2015 with our client The State Ministry of Rhineland-Palatinate for Economic Affairs, Traffic, Agriculture and Viniculture, africon had this year the pleasure to organize a business delegation to Tanzania.

Nine companies from various industrial sectors participated in the three-day trip to Dar es Salaam in order to get to know the general business environment and explore the potential for their own products and services.

The africon- team consisting of Lena Schwoerer and Aneth Herman organized an excellent program with 51 personal meetings for the delegates with individually and carefully selected potential clients and partners for the participating companies among which we had a wine exporter, different machine manufacturers as well as producers of feed additives, tools and special chemicals.

During the trip, it was a special honor for the business delegation to be received by Mr Mohammed Dewji, the Group CEO and president of the MeTL Group which is Tanzania’s largest homegrown company with revenues of more than $1.5 billion, employing more than 24,000 people and with a presence in 12 countries in Africa.

To make the program round we created also some space for networking with other German companies and institutions already present in Tanzania, for example during a visit to the company Achelis (Tanzania) Ltd. and the dinner reception of the Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany which supported us together with the Tanzanian German Business Center during the trip.

The feedback of all companies as well as our client, The State Ministry, was very positive and we could once again prove how our excellent business expertise and understanding of the local markets together with a hands-on-approach and professional organization on the ground can bring added-value to German companies.

africon GmbH, a specialized consulting company with sole focus on Africa, is happy to announce its new advisory board with immediate effect. The advisory board which has significant long term Africa experience will guide and advise africon GmbH in its current growth phase and contribute with ideas, contacts and local know how.

Mr. Awori is Chairman of Toyota Tsusho East Africa, Kenya Airways Ltd and the Bank of Africa Kenya Ltd. Moreover, Mr Awori is Chairman of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (the umbrella body for Kenya’s private sector) and a Trustee of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. From 2003 to 2009 he was appointed the Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to Japan and Korea where he built strong relations between Kenya and the two countries, especially through their private sectors, keeping in mind his prior experience in multinationals in the motor industry across East Africa. Mr. Awori will support africon with its sound industry expertise and African business network.

Mr. Newton is Co-Founder and Director of Alavan Business Advisory Ltd. since 2015. Prior to Alavan Alastair Newton was career diplomat (1985-2005) who went on to work as a political analyst in the City from 2005 to 2015. As a British diplomat he served in Africa, Paris and New York. In London, he had spells in intelligence liaison, policy planning and coordinating the prime minister’s G7 team. Additionally, he joined Frankfurt-listed African Development Corporation in 2008, first as an advisor to the Supervisory Board then as a member. He took over the chair in 2013, from which position he successfully oversaw the fund’s acquisition by Atlas Mara in 2014. Mr. Newton will assist africon with his long political expertise in Africa.

Mrs. Mukunya is owner and founder of Azuri Health Ltd. She is also a Director of Midas Golden Academy a private elementary school. Prior to this she built 6 years of experience running Touchstone Consultancy Services in developing and marketing products for cooperatives and groups. She worked with GIZ, SNV, ACDA-VOCA, EU-CDTF and USAID in capacity building on business development and marketing for women and youth. Prior to that she started her corporate career at British American Tobacco serving in various marketing roles including Trade and Marketing, Marketing Operations, and Brand Marketing for the Horn of Africa markets; Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia. Mrs. Mukunya will support africon with her long term marketing and start-up experience.

“We are happy and proud to have such a highly experienced advisory board. Since we are still a relatively young team we look forward to a continuous exchange with the advisory board to support the growth of our company.” Marc Zander, Managing Partner & CEO of africon GmbH.

The industry association Spectaris contracted africon GmbH in 2015 to analyse the Nigerian market potential for German companies in the area of laboratory and analytical equipment.

Focus of the joint Nigeria study was the analysis of market sizes for the various product areas, the identification and evaluation of promising target market segments, as well as the explanation of macroeconomic developments. Best practice examples of German companies operating in Nigeria display the present potentials, valuable insights from local industry players are a key element of the study.

With a total market size of around $80m and rapid growth in various sectors, Nigeria is the 2nd largest market in Sub Sahara Africa after South Africa for companies supplying laboratory equipment. Even though low quality standards are a common challenge in the industry, more conscious segments are emerging, driving demand for German high quality products.

The decision for the study was a result of an increasing interest of the German high tech industry on the African growth markets. Especially in the area of medical devices, but also across many other sectors, some African markets are experiencing rapid growth, opening up opportunities for German and international companies.

In continuation of the joint exploration of the African markets, Spectaris and africon furthermore conducted a joint work shop for its member’s companies on the opportunities in East- and West Africa in June 2016. Outside West Africa, East Africa boasts strong potentials, e.g. for medical devices with major public and private projects in the Kenyan health care sector, oil discoveries in the region will attract investments in laboratories. Successful regional integration initiatives as well as strong economic growth further enhance business potentials.

More than 300 representatives from Germany and world wide attended the 4th Africa conference on “investment potential in Africa for German companies” in Dortmund. The conference brought together various speakers and company representatives from all over the world.

Marc Zander, CEO and Partner of africon GmbH has been invited as key note speaker and spoke on various topics being chances for German companies in Africa, the food value chains in Africa and most importantly on opportunities in more than 54 countries.